If you were blaming a controversial late offensive foul called on Myles Turner for the Indiana Pacers‘ Game 1 loss to the New York Knicks on Monday, the NBA is telling you to point fingers elsewhere.
In the last two-minute report released by the league Tuesday, the NBA determined that the foul called with 12.7 seconds remaining in the fourth quarter with the Pacers down one was the correct call.
“Turner turns into (Donte) DiVincenzo’s (NYK) path and does not give him time and distance to change direction prior to the illegal contact,” the report said.
The Pacers and head coach Rick Carlisle used their coach’s challenge on the call, but it was upheld after review.
“I don’t wanna talk about the officiating,” Carlisle told reporters after the game. “We’re not expecting to get calls in here. It would be nice if they laid off that one, but they didn’t. So that’s just the way it goes.
“We challenged it, they reviewed it, they’ve got a bunch of people in New Jersey that agreed with them so that’s just the way it goes. We’ve gotta learn from that too.”
As a result of the foul, the Knicks regained possession of the ball and Jalen Brunson nailed three free throws to take New York’s lead from 118-117 to the eventual final, 121-117.
Turner also sounded off after the game, saying, “In my experience in this league, I think it’s best when players decide the outcome of the game.”
The NBA did say that officials got four calls wrong in the final two minutes, including a non-call on a Divencenzo screen with 53.6 seconds remaining in the quarter and a kicked ball called on Aaron Nesmith less than two seconds later.
Game 2 stays in New York as the sixth-seeded Pacers try to even the series with the second-seeded Knicks on Wednesday.
